Customer Health & Safety
Our vision is to make access safe, secure, and sustainable for our customers. End user health and safety is therefore a top priority and an inherent part of our business plans.
Our approach
As one of the top three global access control and security solutions companies, customer health and safety is fundamental to our sense of product responsibility. By identifying and minimizing all possible risks relating to our products – including those arising from harmful materials or potentially dangerous functional features – we ensure the safety of our customers and end users.
Our activities
Our Information Security Management System helps safeguard our customers’ rights to data protection and privacy.
Public buildings must meet high standards in terms of public health and safety – this also applies to our built-in products and solutions. dormakaba meets these product and customer requirements with product certifications that comly with internationally recognized standards such as the European Standard (EN), American National Standards Institute (ANSI), or the Deutsches Institut für Normung (DIN). We pay particular attention to the DIN 18040 standards, which apply to barrier-free construction in public buildings. Furthermore, ISO 9001 processes ensure that quality management requirements are continuously monitored and improved. No product can be installed in the field or released for production without the appropriate certification.
To ensure product- and solution-specific customer health and safety, our Access Solutions and Key & Wall Solutions businesses are developing adequate action plans.
Access Solutions
Our Access Solutions (AS) business provides products such as escape routes, entrance systems, and hotel access systems. We work to address fire safety and electromagnetic interference, and to reduce hazardous substances, as well as ensuring that emergency exits open following a power failure.
Fire testing: an example of a fire test requires the door assembly with locks to be placed in a door leaf and subjected to a temperature determined in the door leaf specification for a period of three hours. Requirements are met if no flaming occurs on the unexposed surface of a door assembly during the first 30 minutes of the testing period, among other prerequisites; the fire test fails if flames penetrate the door leaf during the whole test time.
For example, we comply with the UL10C Standard for Positive Pressure Fire Tests of Door Assemblies. Furthermore, we follow the requirements set out by the Office of the State Fire Marshalʼs (SFM) Building Materials Listing Program, which stipulates that fire doors must be approved and listed by the SFM prior to sale or marketing within the state.
Hazardous substances: products are designed to comply with the EU Directive on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment (RoHS Directive 2011/65/EU and its enforced amendments, especially 2015/863/EU). All components and materials in electronic products sold in the EU market must be RoHS-compliant before any product manufacturing begins.
In addition, in the USA we also adhere to Californiaʼs Proposition 65, which requires businesses to provide warnings to Californians about significant exposures to more than 900 specific chemicals known to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity.
Electrostatic discharges: all Electronic Access & Data products come with a CE self-declaration, which is based on various mandatory test standards such as ESD (electrostatic discharge EN 61000-4-2), EMC (electromagnetic compatibility EN 55032/EN 55035) and product safety (IEC 62368) to ensure safe operation. Products equipped with radio-frequency identification are tested based on the RED (Radio Equipment Directive) EU regulation.
Electrified locking devices sold in the USA comply with the ANSI/ BHMA A156.25 standard, which checks for reliable operation under slam cycle tests, durability, and strength, and includes electrical tests for protection against corrosion and over current among other test factors.
Emergency exits and escape routes: all our automatic doors are subject to the highest safety demands in accordance with EN 16005 (Power operated pedestrian doorsets – Safety in use – Requirements and test methods). For example, the ES PROLINE FST is equipped with a redundant operator, an additional control unit for safety purposes, and a self-monitoring motion detector. Additionally, the combination of burglary protection and escape route is possible with the ES PROLINE thanks to the magnetic locking system (FIA). This means all persons can safely leave buildings in an emergency, and the door offers protection from uninvited guests at the same time. In the USA, we conform to the authorization requirements for unintentional radiators as stipulated in the Code of Federal Regulations (FCC Part 15 Sub Part B).
Fast-track fire, smoke, and acoustic testing at the dormakaba laboratory
Resolute Testing Laboratories, founded in 2016 and part of the dormakaba Group, supports companies with all their testing requirements at its purpose-built laboratory in Brisbane, Australia. As a NATA-accredited (ILAC MRA) laboratory, Resolute provides world-class testing services according to Australian (AS1530.4, AS1530.7, AS1191) and equivalent international standards for fire resistance, smoke leakage, and acoustic transmission building solutions.
Resolute is able to significantly reduce the lead time for tests and test reports compared to external approved NATA laboratories, thus reducing the R&D time on new products to release to market. This has been the case for testing conducted on behalf of Kilargo and E-Core, both part of the dormakaba Group. Resolute was able to test at a rate of one test every one or two weeks, compared to external labs where a test lead time can be up to two to three months.
Additionally, Resolute can also live stream the test to suit different local time zones, so customers have the opportunity to view the test in real time.
Resoluteʼs experienced engineers and state-of-the-art facilities can ensure that our products meet the highest standards and are ready for market. The testing laboratory operates as an independent organization ensuring confidentiality and impartiality for all its customers.
Key & Wall Solutions
Our Key & Wall Solutions business manufactures automated solutions, keys, and space-dividing solutions. Our Key Systems and Movable Walls business units each have individual approaches to customer health and safety that are product-specific.
The business unit Key Systems approaches customer health and safety as an element of its ISO 9001 certification and ensures compliance with both mandatory (such as the European CE Declaration of Conformity) and voluntary safety standards. It has over 16 product certifications. Each Key Systems product features: proper documentation, such as a user manual; a Declaration of Compliance; contact details for the manufacturer; quick guides and tutorials available on the web; and training on demand or during product installation to provide the customer with all the information relevant for proper product use and safety features. Regional distributors are periodically trained on the same topics.
Raising awareness of the safe use and installation of our products
Besides certifications and maintaining our high-standard processes, we also believe that it is important to efficiently communicate with our partners and customers about the safe installation, operation, and use of our products. We have set the following targets to further minimize any health and safety risks related to our products. By 2027, we aim to:
- collaborate on health and safety trainings with subcontractors and installation partners;
- collaborate on trainings and provide information materials on the safe operation of our products to all end users; and
- have at least one corrective action and/or one awareness training for each product-related injury.
Our performance
We internally and externally verify customer health and safety through various certification programs including ISO 9001, testing, and stakeholder feedback. In FY 22/23, 49% of reporting sites achieved ISO 9001 certification.
During the reporting period under review, there were no incidents of non-compliance with health and safety requirements of products and services resulting in a final court decision to pay a fine or penalty or a warning by a competent public authority issued against a dormakaba entity.
Outlook
As the topic of product safety is embedded within local ISO 9001 management systems, visibility on a global level tends to be lacking. In FY 23/24 we will work with the key stakeholders to start mapping the current local processes embedded in ISO 9001 management systems throughout the company to drive transparency of customer complaints resulting in potential injury. This will include root cause analysis, read-across and training on corrections.